1 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 10.
Conduct Toward the Weak. 1 Cor. 10, 14–33.
The application of these truths to idolatrous practices: V. 18. Behold Israel after the flesh; are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? V. 19. What say I, then? That the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? V. 20. But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God; and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. V. 21. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's Table and of the table of devils.
In his effort to impress upon the Corinthians the fact that participation in idolatrous feasts was equivalent to idol worship, the apostle now introduces the analogy of the Jewish form of worship: Note the people of Israel as a nation. Are not those that eat the sacrifices partakers of the altar; do they not enter into communion with the altar?
This fact was brought out particularly strongly on the great festivals, such as the Passover Feast, when the entire congregation of Israel demonstrated its communion by combining in the sacrifice of Passover, and joining, at the same time and in the same manner, in the meal which was connected with it.
It was probable that the readers, at this point, would gather the trend of the apostle's remarks, that he was about to refer to their taking part in heathen feasts.
But before they can offer the objection which they are likely to make, the apostle disarms them: What am I saying now? Am I contradicting myself (compare chapter 8, 4–6), that idol sacrifice is anything, or that an idol is anything? He had denied the actual existence, the personality of idols, and thus had also decried the rites connected with their worship as meaningless observances. This position he held just as strongly as ever.
But there was another feature to which he wanted to call the attention of his readers: Rather, that which they sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, and not to God. Devils are virtually worshiped at the idol feast, and thus, by partaking in heathenish festivals, they come into communion with devils, and he does not want them to enter into fellowship with devils. The riot and debauch attending heathen festivals, not to speak of worse things, showed that foul spirits of evil presided over them.
And so Paul makes his application of the truth which their cleverness must surely have shown them to be correct: You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot be partakers of the Lord's Table and of the table of demons. The Lord's cup in the celebration of the Eucharist is the communion with the Lord and therefore demands the closest allegiance to Him; the attendance at the idol festivals, therefore, where the cup of devils was in use and the fellowship with devils was celebrated, must break the tie that binds to the Lord.
And in the same way the fellowship with the Lord established at the table of the Holy Communion could not be maintained if a Christian took part in heathen festivals; it was a moral impossibility. Every fiber of a Christian's regenerated being must cry out against such blasphemous confusion.
Note: The words of the apostle find their application to-day as well as in Corinth at that time. If Christians join in the wild and profligate revelings and debaucheries of the world, particularly such as are arranged in honor of antichristian persons or principles, they are no less guilty than the boastful Corinthians were in their day.